Still amazes me the condescending comments from people about the costume aspect of cowboy action shooting. Do you guys make wisecracks to people you see in public wearing cowboy boots and/or a Stetson or is it only behind the anonymity of the internet?
Heh. Reminds me of the self-anointed wit (well...he
was HALF right) that I passed while in cowboy garb on my way into the Owatonna, MN Cabela's about 6 years ago while who quipped "Look, it's Abe Lincoln!". Yuck yuck. Yet I didn't see any prior need to comment on how he was ugly and his mommy dressed him funny.
This is typical for how I looked at shoots back then. I wouldn't've had the bandanna or the SASS badge and shoot button on at the store.
A question about dressing up for cowboy action shooting. Authentic dress is required I guess but how many cowboys actually dressed in $300 hats with $500 holsters? I see far too many people dressing like dudes, gamblers and B western charactors. While sometimes fun to look at and bringing out the inner child in many people it doesn't seem very realistic to me. My idea of proper western attire is along the lines of John Wayne, James Arnes and other more simply dressed cowboys. I picture more people dressed like Festus Hagen than Bat Masterson, Lonesome Dove was a good example of what the real west was probably like. I read somewhere where most cowboys carried civil war pistol conversions for around $3 rather than spending $15 or more on a peacemaker. I do enjoy the calvery soliders, army scouts and Mt men outfits though. Anyone else think there should be more worn out hats and holsters out there?
For one thing, in much of the nation, it's hotter'n heck out in the middle of the day in summertime when shoots can be held. And muggy. Sometimes rain and thunderstorms come into the picture, oftentimes without much advance notice. Not to mention the "fun" of trying to be active in elaborate costumes. We won't even get into trying to get BP and other stains out of said garments...
Okay, IIRC, the photo is from back when I was top overall at the Iowa State shoot (not an IA resident, so not state champ and we'll not even go into the totally effed up mess I was in at the time through no fault of my own regarding the WI state title over that same issue:barf
. The hat is a used Stetson that I paid something like $20 for a decade earlier at a gunshow in CA. Braided horsehair band was about $25. The shirt cost like $30, the pants about $40. Bandanna was $6, suspenders were $15. I made the gunleather myself. My Dad helped with the gun cart. Admittedly, the boots I was wearing at the time were a pair of J.R. Reyes' that cost me $325, but The Fort Outfitters was selling decent boots at the shoot for something like $125 and I still wear the pair of those I bought there on occasion to this day. Dressing for a shoot doesn't have to cost a fortune.